Why do the tuaregs wear dark blue?

I tried to find a suitable forum for this question...this seemed to be the most appropriate.

The Tuaregs living in the Sahel/Sahara region in North Africa cover their body completely in dark dark blue clothing. A long time ago I read somewhere that covering their entire body in this color is the best way to keep the water balance and the heat away.
Does anyone know the physical explanation behind this.? Does not dark clothes absorb more energy than white clothes (so wearing dark clothes should be much warmer)...???

Yes, I think the explanation is more likely to be cultural rather than thermodynamic. Many 'tribes' (in the widest sense) use clothing as an identifying uniform (blue jeans?). If the blue had any intrinsic value then everyone in such climates would have adopted it.

temujin,
Tuaregs wear dark blue clothes aim at reducing the effect of UV radiation from the Sun. Also, they always have a cloth around their mouth and nose to keep a moist flow of air as they breathe. I think it is this piece of cloth that keeps the water balance and heat away.

finally, I found the answer somewhere on the web.
I´ll post it here in case somebody might be interested.

Black clothes absorb more sunlight and heat radiated from the body than white clothes. However,if they are loose-fitting, and there is wind, the wind convects the heat away faster than it is absorbed. White clothing reflects sunlight, but also reflects internal heat back towards your body, so the net effect under identical conditions is less cooling than with black clothes.....

hmm? water is actually blue, but it's only noticable at large quantities, and the body is somethinbg like 70% water, so perhaps that has something to do with it

WHAT????? Water is NOT blue, this is the most elementary basic knowledge!!! water is clear, it reflects the blue of the sky, which is blue because of the gas molecules dispursing the blue region of the EM spectrum!

Black clothes absorb more sunlight and heat radiated from the body than white clothes. However,if they are loose-fitting, and there is wind, the wind convects the heat away faster than it is absorbed. White clothing reflects sunlight, but also reflects internal heat back towards your body, so the net effect under identical conditions is less cooling than with black clothes.....

I have a cousin who did some field work for archaeology in the Middle East, and he claimed that this was the reason that they wore black robes. He also did say that once the air inside your clothes got warm enough it started expanding outward, and that the net effect was sort of like a constant wind blowing through your clothes, cooling you off.

I always understood that the cultures in warmer climates were dark colours because they move in the shade, and as dark colours also emit heat better it is cooler. Obviously when standing in direct sunlight the lighter colours are better to reflect the heat.